Superman's Dead
by blackwidow73
Summary: <html><head></head>Mary is offered the chance of a life time. What starts out as a fun opportunity ends up completely turning her life around. Not as dark as the title would make it seem.</html>
1. The Interview

Chapter 1: The Interview

Mary, Murry and Lou stood watching the TV as Ted did the news. Today was more important than usual, he had an interview today. This was something that they rarely ever did, but they had to let him.

"You think he'll do okay?" Mary asked, trying to be optimistic. "I mean, we did go over the cue cards and notecards with him countless times."

"Yeah, but when you have the memory of a goldfish it doesn't matter how many times ou go over it, its still new information," Lou said.

"Maybe we should have put a life sized dummy in there. No one would know the difference and he couldn't cause any trouble," Murry said.

They all stopped as soon as Ted started to introduce the guest. "Now tonight I have a very special guest with us. An icon of the fash, fasheeon world, Mr. Daniel, Coo..." He eyes narrowed to try and read the card.

"Oh God," Murry said as his head went down onto the desk.

Mary took off towards the room and poked her head in, careful that she wouldn't be seen on camera. "Cus," she started.

Ted looked off to the side, completely shocked. "Cuss Mary? I can't cuss on television."

Mary shook her head. "The name! Cus... tee... us!" she whispered.

"Oh," Ted said and then quickly turned back to the camera. "Mr. Daniel Custy ooz."

Mary just rolled her eyes and headed back to join Lou and Murry. "Didn't work huh?" Lou asked.

"What do you think?" she asked as she sat down.

Ted sat down across from Daniel. "So, Mr. Custyooz. Could you please tell us why you are here?"

Daniel Custiez was on the taller side and nicely built. Easily in his early thirties, he had a gentle smile that made his dark brown eyes shine. His hair a light brown. He seemed to find Ted amusing as he laughed. "Well, I had been hired to do a photo session for a few ads in Cosmopolitan and I thought that this would be a good area to get a few good pictures."

"Now is it true that this magazine, Cosmopolitan is a bit controversial?" Ted asked.

Daniel again laughed. "Yes. The most recent thing that got attention was the picture of Burt Reynolds that was featured."

"Where did you work before Cosmopolitan?"

"I used to do photography for National Geographic."

"Interesting," Ted said.

"Very interesting," Lou said. He turned the television off and headed towards his office.

Murry sighed and then looked over to Mary. "You ever read those magazines?"

Mary laughed. "No, I've got better things to do with my time. Does Marie?"

"Not that I know of, but I have a niece that is curious about all of that stuff. I think she started reading it."

Ted and Daniel walked out into the newsroom together. "You know Dan," Ted said to him, failing to keep the conversation private. "If you ever need a make model," he mentioned hinting at himself.

Daniel looked over to him. "I think we're good for a while."

Ted was about to say something else to him, but Daniel saw Mary and started towards her. "All right buddy, talk to you later!" Ted called over as Daniel walked away from him.

"And who might you be?" Daniel asked.

Mary turned around and laughed. "Me?" she asked. "I'm Mary Richards, the associate producer here."

"I'm Daniel Custiez," he said introducing himself.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Custiez," Mary smiled.

"Daniel, and um, I was wondering if you wanted to go out to dinenr with me tonight?"

Mary was surprised to hear the question. This was coming from a man that was always around models, and he was interested in her. "That sounds great."

"All right. Shall I pick you up at eight?" he asked.

"Sure," Mary said and then grabbed a pen paper. "Here is my address," she said handing the paper to him.

"I'll see you then," he said and then left the room.


	2. Superman

Chapter 2: Superman

Mary stood in her closet going through her clothes. Her date was supposed to pick her up in less than an hour and she couldn't think of what to wear.

There was a knock at the door. "Who is it?" she asked without even turning away from the clothes before her.

"Rhoda!" she called out as she stepped in.

"Hey! You think you can help me with something?" Mary asked.

Rhoda walked over and sat down in the chair. "Sure, what is it?" 

Mary walked out of the closet carrying two dresses, one in each hand. "Which one of these you like better? This one or this one?" She was starting to get to the point where she was desperate enough to just throw something on and hope he likes it.

Rhoda stood up and walked over. Carefully, she looked each one over. The first a long, elegant blue gown with a semi low cut top and the other a red turtleneck sweater dress."Depends on what you're getting ready for. A formal meeting or a date?" she asked looking back up to Mary.

"This one?" Mary asked raising the gown.

"In my opinion yes. As a fact though, you could get away with wearing anything you want and still look ten times better than me."

Mary sighed as she carried them both back into the closet. "Those rules go down the drain when you go out a professional photographer."

"Why? You think he's gonna be takin your picture all night?" Rhoda asked as she went and sat back down.

"I'm going out with one of the photographers from Comsopolitan. The one that gets paid to take pictures of women in bathing suits all day." Mary called out from the closet.

Rhoda looked up and smiled. "Aww, good ol' cosmopolitan. Every week I get to find out how ugly I really am and then drool over Burt Reynolds."

"Come on. You don't seriously believe those stupid degrading magazines do you?" Mary asked walking back out to the living room. "I mean all they do is try to create an image that isn't real."

"You're against it aren't ya kid?"

"Yes I am. I didn't get this far from wearing as little as possible." Mary stated as she stood before the mirror to put her earrings in. There was a part of her that was a tad bit jealous of the fact that she had to actually work while all they did was stand in front of a camera all day and get paid more than her. After all was said and done though, she did feel more proud of herself for actually earning her money.

Rhoda turned and looked to her. "You were pretty honored when he asked you out weren't you?" 

Mary sighed as she turned to her and smiled. "Yeah," she admitted, feeling a bit silly about it.

"That's what I thought," Rhoda remarked as she turned back.

"Well, wouldn't you be?" Mary walked over and sat down in the other chair by her.

Rhoda laughed. "Are you kidding me? I would've notified my entire family by now." 

There was a car outside that honked. Mary jumped up and ran over to check out the window and then rushed back over to Rhoda. "Well, how do I look?"

"I hate you right now," Rhoda said looking her over.

"Good?"

"Good?" Rhoda asked standing up. "Try great. You'll prove to him that ordinary women can look as good as those anorexic models."

"Thanks, I gotta go now. Bye."

"See ya! And good luck tonight!" Rhoda called out to her as Mary anxiously rushed out of the apartment.

"Thanks." Mary called back.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

The flame from the middle of the table was the main light source for Mary and Daniel as they sat in the dimly lit restaurant.

"What do you think?" Daniel asked.

Mary looked around and smiled. "I love it," she said. It wasn't too often that she was taken somewhere like this.

"Good," Daniel said smiling back to her. He leaned in closer to the candle creating an orange glow over his face. "Anyways, lets find out a little more about you shall we?" 

"I don't mind," Mary shrugged.

Daniel laughed as he sat back. "Are you from here?"

"No, actually I come from a small town not too far out of Minneapolis." She didn't mind telling him that, but she didn't want to have to go into the reason why she moved here. Her engagement just isn't something that she liked to talk about. "How about you? Where are you from?" This why she could move the subject over to him.

"Brooklyn New York. I was the only kid there who basically never went out and played in the street."

"Well, I've never been there, but the way that my best friend describes areas of New York, I don't think I'd want to go outside all that often."

Daniel just laughed. Somehow he wasn't expecting to hear something like that. "I wasn't scared. I just used to be one of those comic book nerds. Superman was my favorite, any time a new one came out I would grab every penny I had saved and run out to get it."

Mary laughed. "Really?"

Daniel nodded. "Yeah. Just ask anyone who actually knows me."

"The only thing I remember of comics is my cousin who used to collect them. I read them a few times." She sighed as she thought back to the time when she was around ten. "I used to wish that I was Lois Lane. Have the mysterious guy saving me."

"Too bad superman is becoming the non exsistent role model," Daniel said.

"What do you mean?"

Daniel shrugged and then went back to leaning forward towards the candle. "Haven't you noticed that people are getting more selfish and more reluctant to help others than they were ten, twenty years ago?"

Mary thought about it. It was something that she had never really sat back and observed. "I guess," she said.

"I'm not talking about huge movements and such. I'm talking about the everyday stuff. Holding doors, giving money you don't need. All those things. Seems like what we oursleves amount to is becoming more important than helping others."

Mary was actually impressed by all of this. "You actually sit back and take note of all of this?"

Daniel shrugged. "What do you expect? I work in an industry that bases itself off of a materialistic world in which ordinary can never be good enough."

"Yeah," Mary said in deep thought.

The rest of the dinner went more lightly. There was random talk about themselves and interests and such. Before she knew it, it was already getting late. When Daniel dropped her off, he had offered to walk her up to her apartment, and she accepted.

"Thank you for the incredible evening Daniel," she said as she took off her coat.

"I should be the one thanking you. I don't know anyone out here."

Mary smiled to him. "You know me now." It didn't strike her as to how corny that sounded until after she had said it. It occured to her that she was actually nervous around this guy, like a school girl with a crush. "Would you like a drink or something?"

Daniel shook his head. "I've got to get up early tomorrow morning. I really should get going." He started to head for the door, but turned back. "Before I go, I've got two questions for you and your answer to the first in no way affects the second one."

Mary shrugged. "Okay?"

"I shouldn't be asking this, but I need one more model for a make up article and I was wondering if you would consider doing it. It would only take one day to do and it pays seventy dollars."

Mary was taken aback. "Aren't I a little too," she tried to put it into words, but she couldn't.

"Too what? I hope you're not going for fat or average, because you certainly aren't," he said.

"I was looking for inexperienced, but those did cross my mind."

Daniel stepped over towards her and grabbed her hand. "Look, you're a pretty girl and I would rather spend the day with you than any "professional" model they send my way."

"Alright," Mary said. "I'll do it."

"Thanks, and for the second question, you wanna go to a movie tomorrow night?"

Mary nodded. "I'll call you tomorrow all right?"

"Good night Mary," he said and then left.

"Bye," Mary said.


	3. Not Like the Others

Chapter 3: Not Like Others

"He really wants you?" Phyllis asked from the table in Mary's apartment. Her eyes had lit up with excitment.

Mary looked up from her cup of coffee. "Yes, he does."

"Why do you sound so surprised?" Rhoda asked and then motioned towards Mary. "Its Mary he asked. Its not like he asked me."

"Now that would be a surprise," Phyllis mumbled with her head lowered to take a drink of her coffee. She then looked up to Mary and smiled. "Anyways, I think you should do it." It was easy to tell that she was excited for Mary.

"Well, it does sound like fun." Mary said. This had been something that she had been thinking about. Ever since he had asked the previous night, every single thought in her head went back to whether or not take the offer.

Rhoda nodded in agreeance with her as she set her cup down. "And really, whats the harm? Its just one day." She then shrugged. "And not to mention the money."

Mary smiled to her. "I think I'm gonna do it," she announced as she stood up.

"Go for it kid. At least one of us should have a life," Rhoda said.

Phyllis looked over to Rhoda with surprise. "You have an, interesting, life."

"You must have nothing at all if you think mine is interesting," Rhoda responded without even looking to her.

Mary just listened in on the two as she took her cup to the sink and washed it out. It was obvious that this was going to go on for a while unless she had stepped in. As soon as she got back out into the living room, she leaned against the counter and decided to change the subject. "You know, I never saw myself as being in a magazine." The change of subject seemed to take their attention off each other.

"I did. All the time," Rhoda said pointing to herslef. "When I was a little girl my sister and I played dress up and once even put on a fashion show for our mom," Rhoda said thinking back. "Back in a time where I was able to fool myself that I was pretty."

It was too easy of a set up. Phyllis just had to take it. "You actually acted girly once?"

"Do you two think you could go five minutes?" Mary asked as she completely stood up. She was truly starting to get annoyed. It wasn't that she had to have the spotlight on her, it was just that she had something that she seriously wanted to talk about.

Rhoda sat back in her chair and folded her arms. "Only if she's not in the room." Her head motioned towards Phyllis.

"Maybe if someone could grow up," Phyllis said motioning towards Rhoda.

"Well, try and get along when you come with me on Saturday." Mary knew that this would get them to stop for a minute. She made her way towards the couch as she awaited their answers.

"I'm sorry Mare, I'll behave," Rhoda said as she uncrossed her arms.

"She means behave like a human being." Phyllis said.

Mary just rolled her eyes and plopped down on the couch.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Today was the day of the photoshoot. Mary stood infront of the camera. Her face done up for the third time that day and her hair set perfectly. She wore a simple light pink gown. "All right Mary, I just need you to lean forward a bit," Daniel told her. He got the last final shots. "Perfect."

"Finally," Mary said and then walked over to her friends as Daniel went off to get the film stored. "What do you guys think?" she asked approaching Rhoda and Phyllis.

"Makes me regret passing my chance to do any sort of modeling," Phyllis said looking over her outfit.

Rhoda looked over to Phyllis and laughed. "Ha! What for? A pepto-bismol commercial?"

Phylis rolled her eyes. "Simpleton, they wanted me to model clothes at Macys."

"She was working at Macys and they asked all the employees to wear clothing from there," Mary explained.

Phyllis's smile dropped. "They asked me to show it off didn't they?"

Rhoda looked over to Phyllis and then decided to turn her attention back to Mary. "Either way kid, you look fantastic." Over Mary's shoulder, she could see Daniel making his way over. She smiled and motioned towards him getting Mary to turn around. "But uh, I think you would much rather hear it from him."

"Hey Daniel," Mary said upon noticing him.

Daniel walked over and put his hand on Mary's shoulder. "You did good today."

"Thanks," Mary said.

"I was thinking. I have a small break, you wanna go out to lunch with me?" Daniel asked.

"Well," Mary said looking at the two of her friends in which earlier she had promised to have lunch with.

Rhoda saw her hesitation and didn't want her to miss out on her chance with Daniel. "Well, we're just leaving for our lunch break," she said motioning to Phyllis.

Mary smiled a thank you to Rhoda and then turned to Daniel. "Okay, should I get changed first?"

Daniel took a second and looked her over. "Doesn't matter really." He thought she looked beautiful in the dress and really didn't want her to change. "What ever you wanna do. The dress is yours until four."

"I think I'll just wear it," Mary said. She didn't know how much time she had, and changing out of a dress like that would require taking off her makeup and being very careful.

"You two should go somewhere like McDonalds. You'll be the best looking ones there and show up everyone else," Rhoda said starting to laugh. There was a silence that fell over everyone as Phyllis turned and slightly glared to her. "What? I'd do it."

"Of course you would," Phyllis sighed, turning back to face Mary and Daniel.

"Bye you two," Mary said as she and Daniel started to leave.

"See ya later Mare," Rhoda called out.

"Bye Mary," Phyllis chimed in.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Daniel ended up taking Mary to a nicer restaurant for lunch. It was more formal, almost like a dinner.

"I don't see what you were worried about. You seemed like a natural back there," Daniel said as the two waited for their food.

Mary smiled to him. "A small town girl never pictures herself modeling for anything."

"Well, you're a beautiful girl," Daniel said. "You're also very modest about it, not like some of the shallow people I have had to work with before."

"They can't all be that bad," Mary said. She had heard him complain a few times already. It was starting to sound like the sterotype fit every single model out there. It was honestly starting to annoy her, but she wasn't about to tell him that.

"No, but some of them are. There's women out there who only care about how much they weigh and whether or not they're having a good hair day," Daniel explained. "That's why I liked working with you today. You actually act like a human and not like a barbie doll know it all." There was also the fact that he was truly starting to have feelings for her. This was the first girl in a while that didn't completely flaunt herself infront of him.

"That and the fact I'm inexperienced and can't possibly argue with anything you say."

Daniel laughed as he agreed with her. The laughter though, slowly faded and left a silence between the two. He had something to tell her, and he didn't know how she would react to it. "I don't think I want to leave you here."

"When do you have to leave?" Mary casually asked. Truely though, she didn't quite want him to leave either.

"Tomorrow night. I got a flight into Chicago," Daniel said.

"Oh," Mary said, not expecting it to be that soon. Her head lowered as she started to play with the bracelet on her wrist.

"Yeah, after that I go back to New York." His voice was distant. This was the last thing that he wanted to be thinking about right now.

"Is there any chance of you ever coming back here?" She asked somewhat excited. If there was any hopes of seeing him again, she wanted to know about it. "Never mind, that was a dumb question," she said going back to her thoughts.

"This may be one too, but is there any chance of you ever coming to New York?" Daniel asked.

Mary sat back and thought about it. "Actually, I could see myself going there. I think I already told you, my friend originally comes from the Bronx. I could probably go with her the next time she visits her parents."

Daniel smiled. "I hope you're right."

"So do I."

**Hope you have enjoyed this story so far. Please let me know what you think of it. **

**Also, just something random I got a deviant art account and have recently added a lot of things to it. If you're interested heres a link to check it out. **

**.com/**


	4. Just Watch Yourself Kid

Chapter 4: Just Watch Yourself Kid

Like any other Monday morning, Mary walked into the somewhat quiet office and hung up her coat. "Good morning Murry," she greeted as she went and grabbed a cup of coffee. 

"Hey there. How did it go?" Murry asked as he turned adn smiled to her. He had known that the photoshoot was Saturday and that she was iffy on whether or not to do it.

Mary shrugged as she took her cup and sat down at her desk. "It was pretty good actually."

"Yeah?" Murry asked.

"Yeah. I think I'm going to miss him. Daniel left for Chicago last night." The smile that was once on Mary's face started to slightly fade. There was no use in wishing that he was still here, all it did was upset her. But, it was hard to get around. No matter what she did, it was obvious that she wouldn't let it go until a few days had passed.

Murry saw the look on her face. He had known that they liked each other. Anyone could have seen that one, but no one really knew how much. "How serious did you two get?"

"Enough to miss him," Mary answered, gazing down at her coffee.

Ted strolled into the newsroom and joined Mary and Murry. "Hey there Mare. It must have been pretty nice living like a model for the day. Now you know how my everyday life is like," Ted said, trying to show off.

"You spend your day trying on dress after dress?" Murry asked as he turned abck towards him.

Ted nonchalantly waved off the insult. "Sure, laugh. I'm sure no one has asked you for your autograph yet." 

On perfect timing, Lou walked through the door and headed for his office. "Morning," he said as he passed everyone.

"Good morning Mr. Grant," Mary greeted.

"Any messages?" Lou asked, continuing with the normal morning routine.

"No, nothing yet."

"Thanks Mary," he said and then closed the door behind him.

Ted waited a minute. "I should go read through my letters, see how many pictures I need to sign." He then waited a second to what Murry's reaction was going to be before leaving and going back to his dressing room.

As soon as Ted was leaving the room, Murry looked up from his paper work and rolled his eyed. "No wonder he doesn't have a brain, his ego took up all the room."

"Ms. Mary Richards?"

Mary looked over to the door. Standing there was a ridiculously thin women, looked to be about mid forties. Her blonde hair was done up neatly on the top of her head. "Yes? Can I help you?"

"Ms. Fiona Clements," the lady said as she made her way over to Mary. "Actually, I was wondering if I could help you?"

Mary put down what she was doing and turned her chair to face Fiona. "I'm afraid I don't understand," she admitted.

Fiona laughed as she leaned on the side of Mary's desk. "I saw your photos from the article. You look like you could have a lot of potential in modeling." 

"Thank you."

"Have you ever thought of going a step further?" Fiona asked.

Mary was genuinely surprised by the question. The first job was a total surprise to her, let alone all of this. "Oh. I don't, I don't think so," she said.

"Are you sure?" Fiona wanted this girl and was about to try anything to get her to do the show. She was going to do what ever it took to make it sound as appealing as possible. "That money that was paid to you, this would pay triple that for a single photo session. Think about it Ms. Richards, you modeling off the top fashions, wearing clothes that are being viewed the very first time by the public eye. There's a show up in New York in a couple weeks. You can just try it out there and see whether or not you like it."

"I'll think about it," Mary said starting to feel like just giving in.

Fiona sighed as she pulled out a card and handed it to Mary. "All right. Let me know if you're interested. I'm only here until Thursday." She then got up and left.

As soon as Fiona was gone, Murry looked over to see Mary looking over the card. "What do you think?"

"I don't know. I mean, I've never thought of myself doing something like this," Mary answered without taking her eyes off the card. It was a huge opportunity and it wasn't something to just think over lightly. "I could use the money, but modeling just isn't my thing."

"I think you could do it though," Murry said.

Mary looked up to him and smiled. There were truly a couple reasons as to why this was sounding better and better to her. First Murry's comment, and second, Daniel. It took a minute for the entire idea to settle in and she had just remembered that Daniel lives up in New York. On the card it said that she would be needed for a week. That was a week that could be spent mostly with Daniel. "You really think so? Make up's one thing. An entire outfit you have to get in shape and make sure

to stay in shape. Everything has to be perfect." There was still a lot of doubt in her mind as to whether or not she could pull it off.

"I still think you could easily do it."

Mary looked back down to the card for a minute and sighed. She needed to talk to a few more people and see what they thought. Putting the card away, she stood up and walked over to Lou's door where she knocked. "Mr. Grant? May I come in?"

"Come in!" Lou shouted from behind his desk. He allowed for Mary to walk in and close the door. "What is it?" he asked without looking up from his paper work.

"I have a question for you."

"Yeah?" Lou still hadn't looked up to her yet.

"Do you think I could be a model?" The question was blurted out from nervousness. She was still standing right in front of the door.

Lou slowly looked up to her. "What for?"

"Clothing. Oufits, that stuff."

"Is that all you came in here for? To ask whether or not you could model clothes?" There was an annoyence that was made obvious as his voice slightly raised.

"Well, whether or not I should go to New York and be a model," she explained. "I was offered a job. I would have to spend some time up in New York and I was wondering if you think I could do it."

"Mary, sit down," Lou instructed as he sat everything aside. When she was seated, he went on to say what he had to say. "Now look Mary, you're a very pretty girl. I mean that, but you have no idea what that means. Going up there and changing your life style. No matter how thin you are, you're gonna have to get thinner. All those people care about is who is the best looking."

"Come on Mr. Grant. They can't all be like that. Look at Daniel," Mary said. She wasn't dumb, she knew that was how most models ran their lives. Finding ways to get thinner, stay younger looking, have the best hair. It was all a huge beauty contest. But this was just one show. That was all she had to do. All of this and in between go and spend time with Daniel.

"Daniel was different. Trust me, most of them are perfectionists, or at least expect the models to

be perfect," Lou explained. He sat back and sighed. The last thing he wanted was to see her get into any trouble. If this were his daughter he could easily tell her no, don't do it. But he couldn't and it bothered him. He thought of this girl as a daughter and yet couldn't fully treat her like one. "You can do it. If you go through with this, just watch yourself."

Mary could see what he was doing and softly smiled to him. "Its sweet of you to worry, but you really don't have to. I'm an adult and I can take care of myself."

"Does that mean you're going?" Lou asked.

Mary shrugged. "I don't know yet. But I will let you know as soon as I know."

"Good, I need to know ahead of time so I can get someone to cover for you," Lou said and then went back to his work.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Mary walked over and sat down on the chair in her apartment as Rhoda sat on the couch going through a magazine. "I don't know if I should go. I mean, Mr. Grant today."

Rhoda put the magazine down and looked over to Mary. "What did he say?"

Mary sighed. "That I have to watch myself. That its a contest."

"And what? You didn't think it was? I've lived in New York before Mare, and trust me, some people go through a lot to get the body that they need to show off those clothes," Rhoda said. "One of my friends even went into modeling for a while. It was insane Mary. She had to go stay with other models, be put on this strict diet, have barely any if any at all contact to people outside."

"Come on, its a week. First Mr. Grant makes it sound like I'm going to completely self distruct and then you make it all sound like some secret cult." Mary was getting tired of all of this. Deep down she just wanted people to tell her to go so that she would feel better about wanting to go. "Honestly, all I want to do is get some pictures taken and spend the rest of my time with Daniel."

Rhoda knew that her decision was completely based on her feelings for Daniel. "Okay, so you go for a week. You're right, that's not so bad. Just don't agree to any more jobs or whatever you wanna call em to stay there with prince charming."

Mary looked over and smiled. "How about you?"

"How about me for what?"

"What if you were offered a modeling job?" Mary asked. She wasn't out to prove a point or anything, she was just curious.

Rhoda took a minute and considered the question. "What if I, Rhoda Morgenstern were asked to be a model?" She thought for a brief moment and then looked to Mary. "I guess I would have to take that man to an eye doctor and get him a pair of glasses. Then pay for his therapy bill after he sees what he was really about to feature in a dress."

"Honestly Rhoda, why do you talk about yourself like that?" Mary asked.

"I'm just that painfully honest."

Mary smirked. "Good, I'm gonna need someone painfully honest with me when I go to New York."

Rhoda sat up in excitement. "Really?"

"Yeah. Everything would be paid for."

"You got yourself a travel buddy," Rhoda said.


	5. Fitting In

Chapter 5: Fitting In

Mary and Rhoda walked into the room that would be Mary's for the next seven days. Each them walked in with wide eyes. "You think Brenda would mind if I stayed here with you instead of her?" Rhoda asked.

"She's your sister. Besides, I don't think this is a private room," Mary said as she set her things down on the bed. "If I remember right, Fiona said that I would sharing my room with a Stacy Whitmore."

"Maybe she wouldn't mind switching with me," Rhoda said. She walked over and sat down on the bed. To the side of the bed was a big window revealing an amazing view to the city. She turned back to Mary who was unpacking her things. "Now how could I have lived here half my life and never seen this before?"

Mary laughed. She was having a good time so far, and this was a nice room, but there was one thing that she couldn't wait for. She was going to surprise Daniel tonight. Two weeks had passed since the two had seen each other and she was more than exicted to finally get to see him. It was only a week together, but it was better than nothing. "You've never been up in a tall building before?" Mary asked.

"Yes I have, I just haven't been in one with a good view," Rhoda said.

The door opened and a young lady entered the room. Dark long flowing hair with dark brown eyes. She was tall and very slender. "Who are you two?" she asked as she set her things on the other bed.

Rhoda looked to her and then over to Mary. "Hi, my name is Rhoda Morgenstern. I was born in the Bronx, New York in December ninteen forty one. I never thought I would be in a place like this. I'm here because my best friend Mary Richards caught the attention of a photographer. Who are you?"

"Interesting," the scoffed and then looked over to Mary. "Mary Richards? You must be my room mate."

Mary smiled. "Stacy?"

"Yes," she answered. "We have to be down at the studio in two hours. I would suggest getting your guest out of here so that we can get ready."

Mary looked back to Rhoda. "You mind? I'll call you as soon as we're done."

Rhoda stood up. "Sure kid. I'm gonna go and get settled at Brenda's. Maybe along the way I'll find someone like Daniel."

"Bye Rhoda," Mary said.

"See ya," Rhoda said and then left the room.

Stacu turned to Mary. "You owe her a favor or something?"

"What do you mean?" Mary asked as she finished unpacking.

"Well, why else would you bring that thing? I mean seriously, she gives that kind of introduction and feels it necessary to tell me that you're the model. Please, anyone with one decent eye could figure that one out."

Mary was starting to get mad. She sighed as she closed her suitcase. "That thing happens to be my best friend."

"Small town girl?" Stacy asked.

Mary folded her arms. "Yeah. Roseburg Minnesota."

Stacy nodded. "Well," she said as she stepped closer to Mary. "Let me give you some advice. I like you, I really do, but you don't belong here. You still have about ten pounds to lose, you're a push over and you're too nice."

That was it. There was no way that she was going to put up with this all week. She couldn't handle someone degrading Rhoda and then telling her she was a push over. "Look, you can talk about me, but don't you dare talk about Rhoda. I maybe a push over, but I'm not gonna let you go on talking about me and my friends like that." She stopped and looked at the smirk on Stacy's face. "And I do belong here, I was invited for a reason and I can easily lose any weight they need me too. Plus, the last time I checked, nice wasn't a bad thing."

Stacy laughed. "Why don't you just come to the meeting and see what you've gotten yourself into."

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Mary stood in the little dressing room as she stared at her dress. Bright red, the dress was short as it came down just right above her knees. There was only one strap across the left shoulder. It took her a minute, but she finally gained the courage to try it on. She undressed herself and then carefully removed the dress from the hanger. She got the dress on, but there was one problem the zipper.

"Stacy?" Mary asked as she poked her head out the door.

Stacy looked over. "Yeah?"

"Zipper?"

Stacy rolled her eyes as she made her way over to her. "Come on farm girl. Can't you do anything?"

Mary could hear it in her breathing how irritated she was. It hit her, the zipper wouldn't zip. Tugging and pulling on her back, and nothing. "Lose the baby fat and then try it on again."

She couldn't believe it. This had never happened in her life. It was embarressing. Everyone else's dresses zipped up for them. Why wouldn't hers?"All right," Mary said.

Stacy looked to her and smirke.d "You know, I'm going out to dinner tonight with a couple of others. We could teach you how to eat so that you can lose a few pounds before Saturday night."

Mary had to really think about it. This was not something that she was greatly excited about. "I guess that could work out," Mary said. The only reason that she said yes, was that she knew they knew all the tricks to staying skinny. If she could pick up a few tips and fit into her dress by Saturday, it was worth it.

Stacy smiled. "Good, I'll see you then," she said and then walked away. Mary was about to turn back and get dressed, but Stacy stopped. "Wait!" she said.

"Yeah?"

"Take these, they help. Got me through my first five pounds in a couple of days." Stacy took out a bottle of pills and handed them to her.

"Thanks," Mary said. She stood there and studied the bottle. "Okay," she said to herself as she walked back into the dressing room. Never before had she had anything like that. Any pills of some sort to lose weight. As soon as she got changed back to her clothes, she mentally promised herself that she would give the pills back to Stacy when the week was over.

**I know this chapter is short, but trust me, the next will be long enough to make up for this one. **


	6. Friends and Backstabbers

Chapter 6: Friends and Backstabbers

Mary walked into the restaurant and saw Stacy with two other girls. They looked familiar to her, but there was no way that she could recall either of their names. The only thing in her mind right now was the thought that she was supposed to be with Daniel now. She was supposed to surprise him and do something with him. Of course, these girls were trying to help her, adn there was no way that she could pull any of this off if she couldn't fit into a dress.

"Hey Stacy," Mary said as she took her seat.

"Heather, Loni, this is Mary." 

They both looked the same to Mary. The blonde hair, blue eyes, full lips, perfect cheek bones. They were basically clones of each other. "Nice to meet you," she said extending her hand to each one.

"We hear you want to lose a few pounds by Saturday," Loni said.

"Did Stacy give you the pills?" Heather asked.

"Yes, she did actually," Mary answered. This was already getting awkward for her. All the attention and the weird questioning.

"Good, start taking those tomorrow. Tonight you will be able to eat. If you don't mind, we took the courtiousy of ordering your drink for you. Cucumber water with lemon and lime in it," Stacy said.

That did not sound good at all. None of those three things appealed to her seperately let alone all mixed together and watered down. the water in the glass didn't even look like water, it was all murky. Taking a look around though, everyone else's was just as murky as hers so she figured that it was normal. "Thank you," she politely said and then took a taste of it.

They all laughed as she forced herself to swallow it. The look of pure disgust came across her face. "You all right there?" Loni asked.

"Yeah," Mary said. It was hard to get the taste out of her mouth. It was worse than she had thought it would be. "What is in that drink?"

"Just what we told you. I don't know about you country folk, but us city folk don't put secret recipes into drinks," Stacy said.

Mary rolled her eyes. "I live in Minneapolis, not Hooterville."

"If you drink it quickly, its easier to get down. Believe it or not, that drink right there helps you burn a lot more calories," Heather said.

Mary eyed the glass with disgust, but decided to go ahead and do it. There was nothing to lose. Drink it and lose weight. "Here goes nothing," she said and then took the glass and chugged the remaining liquid.

The rest of the table cheered for her as she went for it. Not even ten minutes later, she was rushing to the bathroom. "Rhoda," she said trying to catch her breath while calling her. "Can you come get me? Something's wrong. I've been throwing up the last fifteen minutes." Mary winced. "All right, thanks." Mary leaned against the wall and slid down to the floor and held her stomach. There was something wrong, something more than just drinking something that didn't agree with her.

Ten minutes later, Rhoda walked into the restaurant. Scanning the room, she became nervous when she didn't see Mary anywhere. Then she spotted Stacy and walked over to the table. "I know it may be none of my business, but what the hell did ya give Mary?"

The three stopped and looked up to Rhoda. "What do you mean?" Heather asked.

Rhoda sighed. "All right, you can play stupid. That's great. But Mary just called me to come get her because of how sick she is. Now, if you don't tell me what you gave her and I have to take her to the hospital, you might get in some trouble."

"How? She's the one with the drugs in her system," Stacy said.

Rhoda leaned over the table. "What drugs?"

Loni discretely pulled out a small bag. "Its called mescaline."

"Oh, yeah. I've heard of that stuff before. One of my ex boyfriends used to like that stuff," Rhoda said. She looked over at the glass and then back at the bag. "She must not handle stage one as well as Gerry did." Standing back up, she looked around. "Do you know where she went?"

Stacy sighed. "Before any of that, I should tell you. I didn't think she would have that bad of a time with it. I thought it would just get her to loosen up."

"And I never expected to get mugged here," Rhoda said.

"She's in the bathroom," Loni said wanting to keep from any arguements.

Rhoda started to walk away, but then stopped and went back to the table. "Oh yeah, one more thing." She picked up the two glasses and poured them over Heather and Stacy's heads. "She didn't get it cause she told me what happened. But let it happen again and I swear the damage I'll do to your faces will leave you without a job."

Rhoda walked off without a word. She got about five feet away from the restrooms and saw Mary sitting on the floor by the payphone. "Hey there Mary," she said as she knelt down. "How's you're night going?"

Mary looked like she was about to cry. "My stomach hurts really bad and I don't think the phone likes me very much."

"The phone?" That was all she needed to hear. It had kicked in already. "How about I take you home?"

Mary nodded.

Rhoda stood up and put her hands out to grab Mary's and help her up. "All right kid. Come on. Its time to stand up."

Mar grabbed her hands and pulled herself up. Rhoda put her arm around her and helped her to walk out to the cab that she had waiting for them. As they walked out of the building Mary started to laugh. "Maybe you should go out with that tree over there. It got more excited than any of the men here when you passed it."

Rhoda helped Mary into the cab and then slid in next to her. "Probably about right. The sad thing is, its probably only because you were with me."

Mary couldn't help but laugh wildly at the comment. Rhoda just rolled her eyes. She knew what was coming, she was going to be laughing at every little thing all night long.

o o o o o o o o

"Hey Brenda!" Rhoda called out as she walked into the door.

"Yeah?" Brenda asked. She was getting ready for bed at the time, but was expecting Rhoda and Mary.

"Remember Gerry Thompson? The one who was constantly on something?" Rhoda asked.

"Yeah?" Brenda asked as she approached her.

"Do you remember anything from when I would sneak him in at night?"

"I think so. Wasn't he the one who had a conversation with the lamp?"

"Yes, that was him," Rhoda answered. She stepped back out for a second and then came back in with Mary. "Well, someone drugged our little Mary."

"Hey there...whatsyername?" Mary asked.

"Brenda," she said introducing herself.

"RhoDA! And BrenDA" Mary looked around and then stopped and stared at the glass that was on the table. It was somewhat shinier than usual.

"You think you could get some sleep?" Rhoda asked.

Mary quickly looked over to her. "Yeah, Why not?"

Rhoda and Brenda exchanged looks. "All right, come here." Rhoda took her hand and lead her over to the bed. "This is where you're going to sleep. What do you think?"

Mary nodded and then laid down. "Good night Mare," Rhoda said.

"Night," Mary responded.

As Mary slowly dozed to sleep, she began to hear music playing. An organ of some sort. Looking down, she could see her white high heels standing on an awkward black and white checkered tiled floor. She lifted her head and saw her reflection. Her hair was short and a few shades darker. Ten years younger. A light pink sleeveless dress that came down to her knees.

As music got louder, she realized that she was on a stage and started to dance to the erie music. Ballet moves across the stage. Without much warning, beetles started to fall from the ceiling, making snapping sounds as they hit the floor. She leaped and landed, making sure that her one foot was on the large bug. A shutter went through her entire body as she heard the slow crunch and then witnessed the thick ooze slowly flooding out from under her foot. Her smile hid it though. She repeated this a few times until she had gotten all the beetles off the stage.

Everything grew silent. Once the music stopped, so did she. The space around her grew dark. The sound of wind was heard howling, but the air was kept completely still. All the sudden, a spotlight aimed at her. She held her folded hands up to her chest. "In heaven, everything is fine. In heaven, everything is fine. In heaven, everything is fine. You got your good things and I got mine," she had started singing. The music accompanying her was slow and creepy. "In heaven everything is fine. In heaven everything is fine. In heaven, everything is fine. You got your good things and you got mine. In heaven everything is fine," she sang. The stage gave way to the darkness once again.

There was a faint whispering. More of a cry perhaps. Every step could be heard loudly through out the entire place as she walked off the stage and out to the hallway. No doors, no windows. It was just a long hall that seemed to go no where. The cries where louder now, so she muct be somewhat close. A door slammed behind her causing her to quickly wheel around. Nothing. Not even a visible door.

She turned back forward and saw a dark figure. Tall and slender, abnormally long legs. She could see the head slowly turn to face her. Before anything could happen, she turned and ran.

Leaving the hallway, she got outside. Deserted. There was no one around her. Looking down she saw the blood left over from the beetles.

"Hello?"

The familiar voice startled her. With hesitence, she turned around and saw herself standing there, watching her. Trying to step around her, she noticed that the double did everything she did at the same time. "What do you want?" she asked.

The copy cracked a smug, menacing smile. Mary quickly turned and started to run. She cold hear her heart beating along with the steps of her copy as she was being chased. She turned back to see how far ahead she was, but to her dismay, she was only a few feet ahead.

While she wasn't watching the ground, she hit a tree stump and tripped. It was all over now. A dreaful feeling of helplessness and failure overcame her. She scurried to stand up, but it was no use. Her arms and legs grew weaker and weaker. It got to the point where they became hard to move. The other Mary, now drenched in blood from head to toe stood over her and looked down with the same menacing smile from earlier. "Here, you want to compete so bad? You got to be number one?" She pulled out the bottle of pills and threw it at her. "Well take them!" she screamed.

Mary watched as she walked away. The further she got, the easier it became to move her arms and legs again. She sat up and held onto the bottle. The lable was missing, but she knew what they were. Cautiously, she opened the bottle and poured two in her hand and then leaned her head back and swallowed them. A minute after taking them, she noticed her stomach felt funny, a sharp tingling. The feeling spread to her hand where she saw bugs crawling out of the bottle like crazy. In useless attempts to swipe the bugs off of her, she saw bits and pieces missing from her arm. "They're eating me alive!" she screamed.

"They're eating me alive!" Mary yelled out as she sat up.

Rhoda rushed over to her side. She sat down and put her arm around her. "No they're not!"

Mary looked to her. Eyes widened as her entire body trembled. Her hair was sticking to her from sweat.

Rhoda sighed. She embraced Mary and rubbed her back. She knew enough to know that if she got too worked up or excited her heart could go. "You're fine. You're all right."

"That color over there. The color on the floor, it sounds really good." Mary was starting to calm down and get over what she had just seen.

Brenda walked over. "Everything okay over here? I heard ya screaming."

Rhoda nodded. "Yeah. I think she'll be fine. You can't let her get too excited. Heart speeds up enough without gettin scared. I'm actually pretty surprised she got to sleep."

"I think I'll just go back to bed then," Brenda said.

"Brenda!" Mary called out as she started to walk away.

"Yeah?" she asked as she stopped and turned back.

Mary pulled away from Rhoda and sat up. There was a desperate look to her eyes. "I don't want the bugs. Okay?"

"All right," she said and then continued to bed. She wanted to say something about watching out for the cockroaches, but figured that this just wasn't the time to do that.

Mary watched Brenda leave and then stared at Rhoda for a moment. "I don't like the bugs."

"Not many people do," Rhoda said.

"Are you worried about the bugs too? I can see it, you're worried about something. No. Mad about something," Mary said.

Mary was right about something. She was mad. Leaving that restaurant, she wished she could strangle those three girls. "The tree turned me down for a bush," Rhoda joked.

Mary fell over laughing. "I'm glad I called you instead of Danny boy. You're funny," she said laying on her side on the bed.

"You remember calling me?" Rhoda asked.

"I remember a lot of things." Mary thought for a second. "I remember talkin about superman with Danny boy. How he doesn't exist anymore cause no one does anything for others just for the good of it." She sat up and hugged Rhoda. "But you proved him wrong, superman's not dead. You saved me tonight. I thought I would have to take the bugs."

Rhoda was now thinking that the "bugs" that Mary was talking abotu was whatever drug they drugged her with. "Anytime kid," Rhoda said.

**Bonus points to whoever could name the movie that the beginning of Mary's dream is taken from! **


	7. Different

Chapter 7: Different

Mary opened her eyes to see a sink before her. It took her a minute, but she realized that she was laying on a bathroom floor. Cautiously, she sat up, but managed to hit her head on the toilet. Rubbing the sore spot, she looked around to try and figure out where she was. It came to her. Everything came back to her. The dinner, small events from the night before. She couldn't believe it, she had been drugged. No idea what she had taken or how much. It was starting to scare her.

"Hey kid, you mind? I gotta get ready for the day," Rhoda said as she stood in the doorway.

Mary looked up to her. "Hey, thanks for getting me last night."

"No problem. I would rather you here than by yourself freaking out somewhere."

Mary stood up and looked at herself in the mirror. The messy hair and streaked make up were the least of her problems at the moment. "I guess I really am the stupid, naive, smalltown girl after all," she said more to herself.

Rhoda looked over and sighed. "I wish I could argue with you on that one, but you should know better than to take a drink from someone you don't know. Especially in a city like this."

Mary turned to face Rhoda. "I don't know. I just wanted to try and do this thing right. Learn from other and possibly get on better terms with my roommate." She crossed her arms and looked down. It sounded wrong to say, but all she wanted was to try and fit in with the rest of them.

Rhoda laughed at her. "You were one of the popular kids in high school weren't ya?"

Mary looked up and nodded. "How did you know?"

"Take a seat," Rhoda said. She waited for Mary to sit down on the lid of the toilet and then went and sat on the edge of the tub. She faced her as her back leaned against the wall. "You wanted to fit in with all the rest of the girls. That's understandable. you have to be with them for a few days might as well get along. But really, you should never let that get in the way of your judgement."

"That doesn't mean that I was popular in high school. Just means that I wanted to get along with people," Mary argued.

Rhoda sighed. There was no use in arguing the last point. She had a point that she had to get across to her. "Look, you're a good person. Really Mare, you are a genuinely nice and caring person. You wanna trust people and give everyone a chance. That's great in certain places, but kid, this ain't the place to do that."

Mary mentally kicked herself for not realizing that sooner. Stacy may have drugged her, but she was dumb enough to go along with it. Instead of using common sense and ordering ehr own thing and watching everything that she put in her mouth, she just took everything like a little kid.

"I don't want you to stop being that way, I just think you should think things through a bit more. This isn't Minneapolis, not everyone is nice out here," Rhoda said.

"Not even here twenty four hours and this happens," Mary said.

"So? Now you know. Welcome to New York."

"And what a great place it is," Mary said.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Mary headed back to her hotel room and got ready for the day while Stacy wasn't there. Today, she decided that she was going to go meet with Daniel. With the business card and contact info in her purse, she knew that she could find him somewhere. She would call, but she wanted to surprise him.

After two hours of preparation, she grabbed a cab to the office building and got to the correct room. Upon entering the room, she she slowly stepped off the elevator and approached the secretary, a young blonde who quite frankly looked as though she didn't care about anything that was going on. "Um, excuse me, miss?"

The secretary looked up and forced a smile. "How may I help you?"

"Well, I was wondering if Daniel Custiez was in?"

She sighed and then looked down at a notebook. "Yeah. He's in room four twenty eight."

Mary thanked the young lady and walked down the hall. It was somewhat hard for her to breathe. Each step brought more anxiety to her. She didn't know why she was so nervous, but she was. Was she expecting something bad? It felt like she was waiting to walk in on him and another woman. That was where she stopped thinking about it. This was going too far. All she had to do was relax. Finally, she reached the door and knocked.

"Hello?" Daniel greeted as he opened the door. As soon as he saw Mary, his eyes lit up and he embraced her. "What are you doing here?" he asked while keeping his arms around her.

All the sudden, her anxiety vanished as she smiled up to him. "Well, I have a small little modeling job here and I thought I would drop in and say hello."

"Well, hello," he said and then kissed her. He pulled back and lead her into his office. "You think you can manage to go out to lunch?"

Mary shrugged as she watched him close the door. "I don't know. The dress they want me to wear is a little too tight."

"How? Does it belong to a toddler?" Daniel asked.

Mary shrugged. "I don't know," she sighed.

Daniel shook his head and went to his desk to take his seat. "I guess I could buy you a salad and some water. That sound good?"

"I think I could handle that," Mary agreed as she sat down.

"They didn't give you any pills did they?"

Mary hesitated. The look in his eyes as he awaited the answer. There was a true nervousness. "Well, they did."

"Oh my God," he said.

"But! I didn't take any."

Daniel let out a sigh of relief. "Good. Those things are horrible for you. You might lose a few pounds, but you also lose a bit of your life. I don't know how worth it it really is."

The scenes from her dream suddenly came back to her. The beetles falling from the ceiling and then the bugs crawling out of the container. It all meant something all right, the pills. Every bug in that dream represented those stupid pills. She felt uncomfortable just having them, but on the other hand, she couldn't convince herself to just get rid of them.

"Here, I'll be ready in a second to leave," Daniel said as he picked up a paper off his desk and read it over.

Mary laughed to try and cover up the uneasiness she was currently feeling. "Oh don't worry. I don't have to be anywhere until five." And in all honesty, she didn't mind being late for that. Going there basically meant facing Stacy, Loni and Heather and again being told to lose weight.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Mary got back to the hotel room and decided to get changed and work out a bit. She really hadn't eaten anything in the last couple of days, but she felt like she should get in a tiny bit better shape.

"Hey look, its country girl," Stacy said as she entered the room.

Mary closed her eyes for a second to try and gather herself. This was the last person that she wanted to see right now, or ever for that fact. "Hey Stacy," she forced.

"How was your little trip last night? As good as mine I hope," she said as she sat down on her bed and watched Mary grab her clothes.

Mary wheeled around to face her. "It happened to be one of the worst things that I have ever been through. Now tell me why you would ever think to do that to me." She was about ready to lose it, and by the look on Stacy's face, the next response could possibly push her over the edge.

"Calm down. We all took the same thing when we got back here last night. We just thought that you would object so we gave you your's before hand, to loosen you up you know? And besides, you didn't eat anything today did ya?"

"No, I didn't. But that's still no excuse for what you did last night," Mary said.

"Don't worry about it, your friend scared us last night. I don't think either of us will do that to you again." Stacy sighed. "I'm sorry, you're both right. I shouldn't have put them up to that."

"All right, but don't think I'll trust you again after this. I just wanted to get along and now I feel like I have to be a jerk just to make sure I'll be okay."

"If that's how you feel, that's how you feel," Stacy said and then got up and left the room.

Mary stood there by herself and sighed. She turned back and gathered her clothes. As she looked up, she caught her reflection in the mirror. She brushed her bangs back from her face and stared at herself. She was going to be changed after this. Only a week was going to be spent in New York with these people, but none of this was good. There was no doubt in her mind that she was going to be different when she returned home and she wasn't sure that she liked that idea.


	8. Superman's Dead

Chapter 8: Superman's Dead

Mary went to try on her dress again. It was her third day there, and even though it was somewhat crazy, she thought that maybe she had lost a couple inches on her waist or whatever she needed to finally fit. It didn't. She stopped and stared at herself in the mirror as she tried to figure out how much weight she would have to lose in a few days. The zipper in the back bearly touched, so all it would take is that one inch to get it to zip up. Frustrated, she took off the dress and hung it back up. It was almost as if she were getting no where. She was stuck.

It was no use just standing there and waiting for something to happen. She made her way back to her room and walked in to see Stacy and Heather sitting on the bed looking through pictures. "Hey there Mary," Heather greeted.

"Hey," she coldly returned the greeting. There was no way that she would ever want to talk to someone who helped drug her.

"Dress still not fitting?" Stacy asked, all too smugly for Mary's liking.

Mary crossed her arms across her chest and glared to her. "Just a tad bit tight. That's all. Why do you care?"

Stacy sighed. "Well you came to me with a weight problem and I tried to help you solve it. Now you're on your own and you can't."

Those words got to her. The second that Mary had heard Stacy say that she wanted to punch her. Distrust and anger were all that she could feel around this girl, and it seemed that everytime she was in her presence, Stacy had to push her further and further. "I've still got four days you know. And it does happen to fit better than it had before."

Heather turned to her. "Of course it does. You probably threw up every single calorie in you when you took the mescaline."

"When I took it?" Mary asked with surprise. "Don't you mean when you tricked me?"

"Hey, you're a little smaller and a bit closer to your goal. Why are you complaining?" Heather asked.

Stacy stood up. "Come on Heather, lets go. Country girl's getting mad."

Mary stood there and watched the two leave. As soon as she was alone, she felt relieved. It was almost as if all the stress had just been removed from her life at that moment. Slowly, she went and laid down on her bed. This was the first time that she had been unhappy with herself. First off, she had neevr had a problem fitting into clothing, she was never too big. They gave her a standard and she couldn't meet it. She had failed.

Second, there was the way that she had just been acting. Normally she was much more patient or understanding. A few minutes ago you would have never known that. If this would have been a few days ago, she would have either just ignored Stacy and Heather or had just asked them to leave.

There was one thing that she could do. Her head perked up as she slowly began to sit up. "No," she told herself as she eyed her purse. "Daniel would be mad. Besides, you know he's right," she told herself.

Some how, despite her warnings to herself, she continued to stand up and walk over to grab her purse. The bottle wasn't hard to find. She could feel the small bottle in her hand and carefully lifted it out. There was an odd fascination that came with the bottle. Her eyes were glued to the thing while she argued with herself in her head.

On one hand, these things could be addictive. There was no telling what these pills were. If Stacy was able to guiltlessly pull of drugging her at dinner, what else was she capable of? Besides, if they really were diet pills, what did they do? Kill your appetite? Make you throw up? She had never taken anything like this.

On the other hand, they could work. They could be diet pills that simply help her to lose a few pounds in a few days. Besides, it was only for a few days. Nothing that bad could happen in a few days. There was no way that she could go overboard in that amount of time.

In her head, she had mentally gone through the pros and cons. Her decision had been made. Without any further thinking, she opened the bottle and popped one pill in her mouth. One single little pill. No guilt. No shame. She swallowed it and slipped the bottle back into her purse.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Mary walked into Brenda's apartment. She had told them that she would take them out to lunch. "She'll be out in a minute. Meanwhile just make yourself at home," Brenda said.

"Thanks," Mary said and then sat down at the table. "Where did you two wanna go?" Mary asked as she started to rapidly tap her fingers.

Brenda just stared at her hand and then finally looked over. "What?"

"Where did you wanna go?" Mary repeated as she still continued the tapping.

"Oh," Brenda said. "Well, there's a small cafe two miles up the road thats good. We could go there."

"Sounds good to me," Mary said.

Brenda just watched her for a second and then turned and went to the bathroom. "You almost done Rho?"

"Yeah! Hold on a sec!" Rhoda walked out and saw Mary waiting. "How's it going?"

Mary looked up and smiled to Rhoda. "Hey! I'm good. Worked out today and what not. How about you? How are you doig?"

Rhoda looked to her with confusion. This was definitely not normal for Mary. "You feeling alright there?"

Mary nodded. "Yeah. Why do you ask?"

Rhoda sighed and then looked over to Brenda. "Why don't you go down and see if you can get a cab for us. We'll be down in a minute."

Brenda saw the look of concern and seriousness in her sister's face and decided not to ask questions. It was obvious what was on her mind, especially after the first night. "Okay," she said and then left the room.

Rhoda walked over and sat down across from Mary. Her eyes narrowed, like a mother finding out her child had just done something completely moronic like experimenting with drugs. "Did you by any chance go out with the three girls again?"

Mary was somewhat stunned by the question. She knew. Rhoda knew that she had taken something, she couldn't hide it. How could she be so stupid to take something that quickly before seeing her? "Of course not!"

Rhoda sat back and sighed. "Did you take something?" The answer had to be yes, but she had to hear it from Mary herself. It wasn't like her to lie so she knew that she would catch it right away. She could see Mary struggling for an answer. There was nothing that she could say without completely lying. "Let me rephrase this, tell me what you just took."

Mary glared at her. "Look, you care. That's nice. But this is my life and you are not my mother. You really have no say in this." Mary stood up. "If y ou don't mind, I htink I'm going to go down and see if Brenda has gotten that cab yet."

Rhoda quickly stood up. "Mary!" she called as she went and grabbed Mary's shoulders. "Whats going on with you Mare?"

Mary's expression softened as she saw the concern in Rhoda's eyes. "What do you mean?"

"What do I mean?" Rhoda asked. "Look at yourself! Last week you're this sweet, innocent girl working in a newsroom, the only one who can't call Lou by his first name. And now, now look at ya. Concerned about fitting into a size negative two, taking drugs to get there. And I'm pretty sure that your first time even being near those things was a couple nights ago."

Tears were wanting to form in Mary's eyes, but she did her best to hold it all back. "I think I'm just going to head back to my room."

Without any more words exchanged between the two, she walked out the door. Rhoda just sighed as she walked over towards the bed and sat down. "She ain't a kid anymore, that's for sure."

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Daniel had just taken Mary out to dinner, well, more or less she sat there and watched him eat dinner. All she had was some of the bread and a few drinks. Now the two sat silently in his car. He knew something was wrong, and she knew what he was thinking. "Did you enjoy yourself tonight?" he asked trying to break the strong tension that had been gradually building all night.

Mary smiled over to him. "Yes, thank you."

"You could've ate something you know. One meal is not going to make or break you."

Mary shrugged. "I just wasn't hungry I guess." This was what the diet pills were for, keeping you from being hungry.

Daniel pulled into a parking spot right outside her hotel. "You mind if I walk you in?" he asked as he smiled to her.

Mary returned the smile. "Don't mind if you do."

Daniel got out of the car and walked around to open her door before she could herself. Grabbing her hand, he gently helped ehr up and then put his arm around her.

Mary loved having this man's arms around her. The warmth and security. The feeling of being wanted. Something that was especially nice after the lonliness that she had been feeling lately. "Maybe we'll get lucky and Stacy will be late getting back."

Daniel laughed as they both got onto the elevator together. "Maybe, but I doubt it. I have briefly worked with her before. If I remember correctly, she avoids dark circles under her eyes at just about any cost."

Mary couldn't argue. She had seen Stacy go to bed at around eight o'clock. They both stepped off the elevator and walked down the hallway. Once to her room, Mary grabbed the key from her purse, but soon realized that the door was unlocked. "Ohh, darn it," she said. "Stacy must be back already."

"Don't worry about it. I'll take you back to my place," Daniel suggested.

"All right, just let me get changed real quick," Mary said. Upon opening the door, she saw Rhoda and Brenda going through her things. "What are you doing?"

They both stopped and looked up to her. "Look, Mary..."

"I don't want to hear it!" Mary said starting to get mad. "You had no right to just barge in here and go through my things!" She stopped a second. "How did you tow get in here?"

"Stacey let us in before she left," Brenda said.

Rhoda stood up and approached Mary. "I know. You're right. I just wanted to make sure that you weren't taking anything too serious."

Daniel walked in and stood before the doorway. "What does she mean anything serious?" he asked.

Tears started to form in Mary's eyes. She couldn't believe that this was all happening right now. "Just, she thinks I'm taking those stupid diet pills."

Rhoda looked to Mary with disappointment. "Diet pills?"

Daniel grabbed Mary by the shoulders and turned her to face him. "You took them!"

"Two! All right? I took two!" The tears were now starting to flow from frustration.

"No! That's not all right! I told you not to take those Mary! Do you even have any idea as to what those things are! Do you!" Daniel yelled. Although he was extremely angry at her, he was m ore scared than anything.

Mary stood there and sobbed as she shook her head. "No. I don't know what they are."

"Speed! People sell this shit on the streets. You wanna end up addicted? You wanna be the one who's always shaking?"

Brenda stood up and joined Rhoda. They both watched as the scene before them unraveled. Rhoda never expected to see Mary in any situation like this. Something was wrong, deeply wrong. This wasn't the Mary that she knew back in Minneapolis. "You're better than that Mare," Rhoda said.

"Didn't either of you hear anything I had to say? I took two! Two pills! Not bottles!" Mary walked towards her bed and stood there a minute with her back to everyone. When she turned around, the tears had been wiped from her face. "This really isn't any of your business. I can make my own decisions and live my own life."

"But Mary!" Rhoda started, but was cut off.

"You weren't even supposed to be here! No matter who let you in!" Mary yelled.

"Realize it or not, we were tryin to help you," Rhoda said. She was trying her hardest to stay calm, but everytime Mary yelled it became harder and harder.

"I don't need your help and I'm pretty sure that I don't need you," Mary said without thinking about what she was actually saying.

Brenda's eyes widened as she looked back and forth between the two. "You don't mean that," Brenda said.

Before Mary could say anything, Rhoda turned back to face Brenda. "No, no. She's right. If she wants to throw her life away, she can go ahead." Rhoda then stormed to the door with Brenda following her. Before she left though, she had to say one more thing. Turning back, she calmed herself down. "Ya know kid, I really thought you were above all of this. Looks like you're just as bad though."

The slamming door caused Mary to flinch. She looked over to Daniel. Tear stricken, guilty and ashamed. Daniel put his hands up in defeat as he shook his head. Without even saying goodbye, he turned and left.

Mary stood there, alone. A feeling that she had never felt so strongly before in her life. She turned her head and stared at herself in the mirror. Red and puffy eyes that belonged to someone shallow. At the moment, she loathed herself. Everything that was good was now broken, all because she herself had broken. Starting to sob, she collapsed onto the floor and cried into her hands.

_Do you worry that your'e not liked?_

_How long til you break?_

_Are you happy cause you smile?_

_But how much can you fake?_

_An ordinary boy, an ordinary name_

_But ordinary's just not good enough today_

_Alone I'm thinking_

_Why is superman dead?_

_Is it my head? _

_We'll just laugh instead_

_You worry about the weather and whether or not you should hate_

_Are you worried about your faith?_

_Kneel down and obey_

_You're happy you're in love _

_You need someone to hate_

_An ordinary girl and ordinary waist_

_But ordinary's just not good enough today_

_~ Superman's Dead by Our Lady Peace_


	9. This Isn't Working

Chapter 9: This Isn't Working

Rhoda and Brenda solemnly walked into the apartment. The conversation playing over and over again in Rhoda's head. She knew that Mary didn't really mean what she had said, but it still hurt her.

"The one person, the one you would never expect, and there she is," Rhoda started as she dropped her purse onto the table.

"Yeah, well, I think you two are going to be talking again," Brenda said.

Rhoda sighed. "You know I'll talk to her. As angry as I am right now, I still gotta help her. No matter what she thinks, she's still that naive kid from Minneapolis." She sat down on the bed and sighed.

"Yeah, that and the fact that I found this," Brenda said as she pulled the pill bottle out of her purse.

Rhoda's eyes widened. Quickly, she stood up and grabbed the bottle. "How did you?" she asked as she examined the bottle.

"While you and Daniel were talking to her I got some time to dig through a few things. Living here taught me to be quick." Brenda took the bottle back and carried it over to the counter. "Now, next time she comes over, I can prove it that I stole something."

"You really wanna keep those things?" Rhoda asked. The very thought of those being in the apartment bothered her. It wasn't so much that she thought Brenda would take them, it was just what they represented. The tearing apart of an innocent, unsuspecting, undeserving person.

"Doesn't really matter to me," Brenda said.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Mary grabbed her pajamas and decided to get ready for bed. This day was over. Nothing more could come of it. Once you're convinced that you lost the people who meant the most to you, there was no reason to continue that day. Mary Richards, the real Mary Richards would have never let that happen.

Washing all her make up off, she paused and stared at herself. This was something that she had been doing a lot lately. It was amazing how she could look the same, and yet feel so different. She had to get what ever was in her system out of her.

_"They're eating me alive!" Mary yelled out as she sat up._

_"I don't want the bugs. Okay?" _

She took a pill before her very small dinner. It still had to be in her stomach. Without any hesitation, she started to force herself to throw up. Her knees hit the floor and she emptied her contents into the toilet.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Rhoda carried the bottle into the bathroom with her. She removed the cap and threw it into the garbage. Taking the bottle, she turned it and emptied the pills into the toilet and flushed it. They were gone. Finally, they were gone. She tossed the empty container into the garbage can and hoped that that was the only container that Stacy had given her.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Mary sat back and leaned against the wall. She pressedher palms to her eyes for a moment before leaning her head back. Her thoughts were all clouded over as she tried to think of where she made her first mistake. There was deciding to take the pills, letting Stacy get to her, deciding to go to New York in the first place, even agreeing to be the model for Daniel. It didn't matter. The damage was done.

Slowly, she lifted herself from the ground and went on to finish getting ready for bed. As soon as she was done, there was something that she knew she needed to do. Pulling open the dresser drawers, she started going through everything. No matter what, she had to get rid of those pills.

"Come on!" she scolded herself. About fifteen minutes had been spent on looking for those pills, and she still couldn't find them. They were supposed to be right there. They had to be.

"I guess maybe they are just gone," Mary said to herself. It was time to give up on finding them. It wasn't like she was going to take anymore of them. With that final thought, she went to bed.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

"Hey! Country girl! Wake up!"

Mary's eyes flew open as she quickly sat up. "What?" she asked trying to figure out what was going on.

"Its time to get up. We have to work out. Rehearsal is the day after tomorrow," Stacy said.

Mary sat up and looked around. "So?"

"So we have to get down to the gym and burn off anything we can. Seriously, that is the only thing that you should do today," Stacy said as she pulled her hair back into a pony tail. "And eat some celery or something before hand, and bring water."

"I think I know how to work out," Mary said as she finally climbed out of bed.

"Do you? All day long?" Stacy asked.

Mary rolled her eyes as she walked over to grab a change of clothes,"You know, that can't be good for you to work out all day long."

Stacy turned and laughed. "Since when do you know what's good? If I recall right, you were the one who actually started taking the pills."

Mary froze and slowly looked to her. "How did you know?" She knew that there were affects, but she had no idea as to how obvious they were to everyone else. Rhoda knew, but she had also been her best friend for three years now.

Stacy sighed. "Well there's the fact that you were burshing your hair like you were trying to rip it out yesterday. That and you couldn't sit still for more than thirty seconds."

"Well, I've stopped," Mary said.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Stacy said warned.

"Yeah? And why not?" Mary asked.

Stacy shrugged. "You really tired yet? How about hungry? Think you could eat a buffet?"

Mary closed her eyes for a second and took a deep breath before completely turning to her. "Look, I only took two. I am not addicted. And of course I'm hungry, I haven't eaten a decent thing in three days. That would also account for being tired."

Stacy waved her off and grabbed her things. "What ever. See you down stairs."

Mary stood there and watched her leave. She was now trying to remember how many she had taken. It couldn't have been more than two. Could it have been? "I've got to find that bottle," Mary said to herself as she frantically began to search. In teh beginning there was twenty pills. It said on the bottle and it had not been opened yet.


	10. I'm Sorry

Chapter 10: I'm Sorry

Mary sat there with the drawers emptied out. No proof as to how many pills she taken seemed to exist. Now, she was scared. Not just because she didn't know how many pills were gone or how many people knew, but because she found out just how far she could go. Just how loose her self control really was.

Most people, deep down need to know that they have control of something. In any situation, most people can be comforted by the small little things that they can change, that they can control. In certain circumstances though, there was that dim reality that shown through. The realization that one slip up could cost you everything. Not yet had she completely screwed up, but she didn't know whether or not she could face either Rhoda or Daniel. They had both expected more of her, and while they tried to help her, she basically spit in their faces.

Trying to stand back up, she realized how dizzy she was and had to hold on to the dresser. "Come on, you're fine," she told herself.

Once she caught her balance, she looked around. No one. She was alone. It didn't matter though. She had just lost. If she couldn't handle pressure, she wasn't really sure as to what she could do anymore.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Rhoda and Brenda sat on the bed playing cards. "You're bluffing," Rhoda said as she threw another chip in. They weren't playing for money, just for fun.

"If that's what you say," Brenda said.

There was a knock at the door. "I'll be right back," Rhoda said as she took her cards with her.

"You don't trust your own sister?" Brenda asked.

"No!" Rhoda said and then opened the door. Out in the hall stood Mary. Her face was pale, dark circles under her red puffy eyes. Her hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail. "Mary? What happened?" She stepped aside and motioned for her to come in.

The air was filled with some sort of awkwardness or tension, at least, to her it seemed to be. Back in the hotel room she had told herself not to come here, but she had to, especially now. Mary stepped in and stood there gathering her words as Rhoda closed the door. "I," she started. "What I said, and all, everything," she started to cry, making it harder for her to get the words out.

"Hey, Mare, its fine. Really. I know you didn't mean it," Rhoda said as she went and led Mary over to a chair by the bed where she could sit down. She then sat down before her on the bed and waited a minute for her to calm down.

"Doesn't matter. I still pushed people away," Mary said through quiet sobs. "I got something else that I need to tell you."

"Yeah? What is it?" Rhoda asked with concern.

Brenda gathered the cards from the bed and stood up. "I think I'll take these down stairs, maybe get a little money out of Carlton or something," Brenda said wanting to leave the two alone for a moment.

"All right Bren, see ya later," Rhoda said and then quickly turned back to Mary.

Mary sat there for a minute as she tried to speak. "Well, um, I think that uh, maybe you should take me to the hospital. I, I would've gone alone, but you know, it, it would kinda be too nerve racking and all."

"Hospital?" Rhoda asked getting nervous. "What did you do?"

"I don't know," Mary said through tears. "I'm always, always as never off, when it comes to that time of the month, so I'm pretty positive that this isn't it. And then there's the pain around where the kidneys should be and I know that those pills could cause damage to those," Mary started to ramble off from being nervous. "And theres a lot of blood."

"How many of those things did you take?" Rhoda was hard for her to believe that those couple of days could do that, but she didn't really want to take the chance. Besides, with Mary so worried about it, it wouldn't hurt to check.

Mary shrugged. "I tried to find the bottle to count how many were missing, but I couldn't find it."

Rhoda slightly cringed. She should have just left those pills on the counter where Brenda had left them. It was too late now though, so she shrugged it off and stood up and then grabbed Mary's hands to help her up. "All right, lets go. I think you just might be off for once, but with the way you've been going this week I guess it doesn't hurt to check."

"Thank you," Mary said as they left.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Mary sat on the bed in a white gown as she waited for the doctor to get back with any results. He had already been gone for twenty minutes. The first blood samples were taken over an hour ago, then she was given a physical. This was all taking way to long for her liking. Even thought the doctor had said that it was most likely nothing at all, she still had to know.

The door finally opened and the doctor came back in. "Mary Richards?" he asked reading the name off the chart.

"That's me all right," Mary said trying to hide how nervous she truly was. She wasn't trying to hide it from the doctor, but more from herself.

"I've got some good news, everything's fine. Just maybe eat something and you'll be perfect."

Mary let out a sigh of relief. A huge weight had just been lifted from her shoulders allowing her to finally breathe again.

"There is something, however, that I think we should talk about."

His tone was serious. Many of the previous fears had just been brought back. There could never be anything good after what he had just said. "What is it?"

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Mary walked down the hall to the waiting room where Rhoda sat wating for her. Her head was down as she wiped the tears away. She got to the entrance of the room and stopped for a second to try and gain her composure.

Rhoda, who was in the middle of a magazine, looked back and saw Mary. "Mary?" She tossed the magazine on the table and got up. "What did he say?" she asked walking towards her.

Mary took a deep breath and shrugged. "Did you know that you don't know you're pregnant until after the first month?"

Rhoda looked to her with confusion. "What?" Then, after a few seconds, it hit her. Sympathetically, she grabbed her shoulder. "I'm so sorry kid."

Mary bit her lip as she held back as much as she could on the crying. "So am I." It was all she could say.

Rhoda embraced her as she started sobbing. "You didn't know Mary. It was a mistake okay? Its gonna be all right." It was all that she could think of to say.

Mary pulled away from her and shook her head. "It might have been a mistake, but I still killed both part of me and part of Daniel. All because of a stupid dress."

"Come on, lets get back to the apartment. We can figure out where to go from there," Rhoda suggested.

"Actually, Rhoda, there's something I need to do first. I'll meet you back at Brenda's. I, I just got to go talk to Daniel."

This was not soemthing that she was okay with. Letting Mary go off on her own right now just didn't seem like a good idea. But, she did understand her needing to talk to Daniel. "How about I stay around the area. I'll wait out in the cab or something. Maybe a store near by."

"He's right across the street from a diner. You could wait there if you want."

"That works. Let's go then," Rhoda said.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

It had started to rain as Mary walked up the steps to the door of Daniel's house. She was very well aware of the fact that her appearance was horrible, but it didn't matter now. Not much seemed to matter to her right now.

She got to the door and hesitated before she rang the door bell. In her head she was arguing with herself as to whether or not tell him about the baby that she lost.

"Mary?" He asked upon opening the door.

Mary looked up to him and forced a small smile. "I stopped taking the pills." She wanted to start off on a good note before she gave him any bad news.

"Good," Daniel said. "I couldn't stand know that you were doing that to yourself. Would you like to come in? Maybe dry off a bit there?'

Mary sighed. "Actually, I just, I just had to tell you something before I left to go back home." It was hard to even think about, let alone tell him. The concern and caring that now came over his face made it even harder. There were no tears, it seemed impossible to cry after all the crying that she had been doing. There was an emptiness though, an emptiness that was going to be hard to fill.

"What is it Mary?" he gently asked.

She looked down. "You know that weekend we had a few weeks back?" She lifted ehr head and smiled. "That really nice weekend?"

"Yeah?" he asked.

"I went to the doctor's today, just to make sure that everything was all right. I was just kind of nervous after taking those pills and thought I would get checked out." She didn't tell him that she thought something was actually wrong. There was no need to worry him, not with what she was about to tell him next. "I just found out that you kind of gave me a small little gift."

His eyes widened in surprise. "You mean?" He took a second and thought out loud. "Well, I could find a job in Minneapolis and we could work things out how ever you want you know. I could live near by or we could stay together, get married, what ever you feel is best."

Mary's heart instantly dropped. "You would give up everything you have here for me? The girl you dated one weekend, went a while without seeing and then took her out on two more dates?"

"I care though," he said grabbing her shoulders. "I don't want you to have to go through that alone. Besides, I would hate to miss out on one of my only chances to be a father."

Now it was ten times harder to tell him. Why couldn't she have told him everything at once? Why did he have to be so nice to her? Gently, she laid her hand on top of his. "Daniel, I don't know how to tell you this, but, I lost it."

His face dropped, along with his hands off her shoulders. "Oh," he said.

"I'm sorry. I just had to tell you. I would have felt wrong keeping it a secret from you." Turning, she walked away.

At the bottom of the steps to his house, she turned and started down the sidewalk. Rhoda was right across the street, and she could join her, but it just seemed better to be on her own right now.

"Wait! Mary!"

Mary stopped and turned back to see Daniel running down to her. "I'm sorry, it just took a minute to sink in."

"I honestly thought that you didn't want to talk to me. Tell you the truth, I would have understood. I'm pretty sure if I would have gone through this week differently that I would still be having a baby."

"I'm not mad at you. I can't be. You didn't know." He took her in his arms. "I do how ever need to be able to say good bye to you before you leave."

"Goodbye Daniel," she said as she stared up into his eyes.

Returning the gaze, he pulled her in and began to kiss her. He removed his hands from her shoulders and wrapped his arms around her as she wrapped hers around him. The warmth between them was noce compared to the cool rain falling from the sky. All too quickly, or at least for Mary it was, Daniel pulled back. "I just remembered something."

"Yeah? What's that?" Mary asked.

"I don't say goodbye unless I intend to never see that person again."

Mary sighed. She truly did love hearing that, but it wasn't fair. "I don't know if you really want that. I could possibly live here. Not all of New York is modeling and, as Rhoda would say, dresses that are size negative two. The only other option though would be asking you to give up everything, and I could never do that without feeling any guilt." She saw the disappointment in his eyes and it crushed her. "Besides, I'm a bit of a mess right now. I'll go back home, hide out and try to get back to normal."

"So this is goodbye?" he asked.

Mary thought for a minute. She had gone through all this trouble to come out and see him. There was no doubt that she loved him, that she wanted to be with him. The fact that she didn't want to leave right now was one of the signs. But, the probleem was, was that she loved him. Loving someone, sometimes means letting someone go, letting them do what makes them happy. She simply nodded.

"At least call me when you get home? Just so I know that you got there okay?" he asked.

"Sure," Mary said. They said their final goodbyes to each other and then parted. Daniel to his lonely house, and Mary to join Rhoda.

**There's probably going to only be one or two more chapters after this one. I'm not quite sure how I feel about this chapter, but I don't feel right making any changes to it. Let me know what you think. **


	11. I Didn't Mean Good Bye

Chapter 11: I Didn't Mean Good Bye

Mary sat in her apartment by herself. Curled up on the couch with the television basically entertaining itself as her thoughts wondered elsewhere. This was her first night back home and she didn't know whether or not she was ready to face anybody yet. When her and Rhoda first got back, she was relieved to find out that Phyllis was gone. The last thing that she wanted was to answer a hundred questions about the trip that she wanted to forget about.

Th baby still plagued her mind. A single woman pregnant by a man that she had known for a very short time period would have been scared to be pregnant, but the fact that she knew that there was a baby and that Daniel did care so much, it hurt her. She killed what might have brought them closer together.

There was a knock at the door that brought her out of her trance like state. "Its Rhoda! I just wanna drop something off."

Mary went over and opened the door. On the other side stood Rhoda with a box of pizza and a grocery bag. "I thought I would provide the first meal," she said as she walked in and set everything down on the table.

Mary just smiled as she closed the door. "You wanna join me?"

Rhoda shrugged. "Sure, if ya want the company."

"Let's see what ya got here first," Mary said as she made her way to the table.

"Well," Rhoda said. "For dinner, a pepperoni pizza." She then pulled a bottle out of the bag. "Along with that a bottle of Minneapolis's finest. Vodka, goes well with just about anything you can think of, and even cures thinking after a while." She set that down next to the pizza and then pulled a half gallon of chocolate icecream out. "And finally, for dessert, chocolate icecream. Because we all know that chocolate can heal all over time, especially when frozen in this form." With that, she took the icecream into the kitchen and put it away in the freezer.

Mary sat down and looked over the items. "You can bring out what ever you want to put the vodka in." She undid the top to the bottle and then stood up and went to grab the cups and plates.

"Here, I can do it," Rhoda saw her coming towards the cabinet and grabbed the plates and cups. "You go sit down. You're burning unnecessary calories. You move anymore you'll disappear."

Mary laughed at the comment, although, there was a time where she had wished that was true. Back in New York, she did want to disappear, to forget about everything that was happening. "Fine," she said and then sat back down.

Rhoda brought the fruit juice out before everything else. Mary picked up the container as Rhoda headed back to the kitchen. "Cranberry juice?"

"Yeah," Rhoda said as she set the rest of the stuff down on the table. "You never tried it?"

"No actually," Mary said. She poured the drinks and handed one to both grabbed their pizza.

"Here's to forgetting one of the worst trips ever," Rhoda said holding up her glass.

"I'll drink to that," Mary chuckled as she raised her glass. She took a drink and then set the glass back down. "Although, I don't know how bad the trip actually was for you."

"I watched you have the worst trip ever."

Mary laughed, but the laughter faded as she started to look down towards her hands. Unsure of herself, she looked up to Rhoda. "I'm not sure if I ever said this yet, but thank you for everything. I mean, back in New York, and then the dinner tonight."

"Don't mention it kid," Rhoda said all too casually for Mary to let go.

"No, really Rhoda. I don't know what would've happened if you haven't been there. The first night I could've ended up anywhere. Then when I started taking the pills," she stopped and sighed.

"Look, there was no way that I was just about to let you ruin yourself over that, all right? I'm sure that you would have done the same thing for me."

"I don't know," Mary said.

"Oh thanks," Rhoda sarcastically remarked.

"No! I would have tried to help you, but I don't know if I would have known what to do. You were in there searching through my place. I wouldn't have been able to get myself to do that. Hell, I probably would have just panicked." Mary's shoulders slumped.

"You would have. I don't care who you are, you k now when someone's on something and you know to do something to take it away from them."

The door opened and Phyllis entered the room. "What's wrong?"

Mary and Rhoda both quickly turned to her. "What do you mean? Everything's fine," Mary said.

Phyllis sighed. "Why are you back?"

"Now there's a welcome back home," Rhoda said and then took a drink.

Phyllis waved her hand as if waving off what she had said. "The show is tomorrow night. Why aren't you out there in New York?"

Mary was about to say something, but Rhoda stepped in and answered for her. "The girsl she was with were snobs, the diet and exercise was ridiculously demanding for someone who already has a perfect body and Daniel had to leave out of town, so there was no reason in staying if she couldn't see him."

Mary looked over and smiled a thank you to Rhoda before looking back to Phyllis and agreeing. "It just wasn't worth it." She was truly thankful that she didn't have to explain anything that had happened.

"Oh." Phyllis sat down on the chair. She made it obvious that she was disappointed, but Mary and Rhoda went ahead and ignored it. There was no way that they could have just stayed there.

There was yet, another knock at the door. "Did you tell anyone that I was back?" she asked Phyllis as she crossed the room.

"No."

"I don't think that it was goodbye," Daniel said as soon as she opened the door.

Rhoda looked over and saw him. Immediatley, she stood up and started towards the door. "Hey Phyl! Let's go out and see if there's a movie or something."

Phyllis looked over and then stood up. "Sure," she said.

The two left the apartment. Mary and Daniel were there alone. Mary smiled to him with disbelief. "Daniel? How?"

Daniel laughed. "Well, I just wanted to make sure that you were all right."

"That's a bit of a distance to go isn't it? I mean, you could've just called and asked."

"Yes, but this way is more effective, at least I thought so anyways."

Mary stepped off to the side. "Well, you came all this way. You wanna come in?"

Daniel walked in and sat down. He waited until she closed the door and joined him. "I have a serious question for you."

"Yeah?" Mary asked.

"You have the weekends off right?" Daniel asked.

Mary just nodded. "Yeah." She had a good idea of what to expect after this question, but she didn't know how to react to it.

"You think if I fly you out every other weekend, and then come out here the other weekends, that we could work something out?"

Mary sat there and thought for a minute. The last thing she wanted to do was keep him from doing the job that he loved doing. "That's a lot of money to just spend like that," Mary said. "I don't know if I would feel right having someone spend that much money on me."

Daniel sighed. "Mary, I'm a single man. What would I spend that money on anyways? The house that I live in alone? Go out to eat dinner more often? A new car when I have one that works? I have found someone that I enjoy being with, and I want to see you more often. All the stuff that I have back home means nothing if I don't have anyone to share it with."

Mary sat there and thought for another minute. She did like the idea of seeing him more often. "How about this? Every other weekend we see each other. This could be the first weekend and you could stay out here. Next weekend no one goes anywhere, then the weekend after that I come out to see you?"

Daniel nodded. "Sounds good to me. Now that I'm out here, what's that you got over there?" he asked pointing towards the table.

Mary laughed. "Rhoda brought dinner over for me."

Daniel laughed. "Pizza and champagne huh? Sounds like my kind of meal. Wanna bring her back in here and the three of us could eat?"

"You caught on to the fact that they didn't actually go to the movies?" Mary asked as she smiled to him. She got up and grabbed the phone. "Rhoda?" she asked. "Hey, you can come back down. We're eating dinner now."

She hung up. "She'll be down in a minute." While Daniel went and sat down at the table, Mary went and grabbed a plate and glass for him. "Here you go," she said as she them to him.

Rhoda walked through the door and joined them at the table. "So, what did I miss?" she asked.

Mary looked over and smiled. "Well, we've decided to contibue seeing each other. Every other weekend."

Rhoda rested her head on her hand. "I don't know how you do it. We got back from the worst trip ever. You were the one in trouble, the one that had everything for them and you still come out with the better end of the deal." Rhoda sighed. "I'm happy for you. Really, I am."

Mary and Daniel just laughed. "You could come up to New York a few times too if you want. Although, I think we would prefer it if you stayed with your sister instead of with us," Daniel offered.

Rhoda laughed. "I could do that."


	12. Merry Christmas

Chapter 12

Mary and Daniel walked hand and hand down the street in New York city. The snow softly fell. It was a week before Christmas, their first Christmas together. the stores were all lit up and people rushed around to get things ready.

"This is my first Christmas ever in New York," Mary said as she looked around and smiled.

Daniel laughed and then looked over to her. He loved seeing her this way, smiling, content. Even after everything that she had gone through, there was still a touch of innocence to her. He was glad that that had remained. "You think we should take a picture of this?" he joked.

Mary laughed. "No. I'm just saying that this is new to me. I mean people rush around in Minneapolis too, but nothing like this."

"I think it has something to do with the fact that there's a few more people here than there are in Minneapolis."

"Hmm." Mary just looked around as they continued to walk. "This is also our first Christmas spent together." There was a small glimmer in Mary's eyes that shone.

"This is true." Daniel stopped and turned to her. He waited for her to stop.

"Something wrong?" she asked.

"What do you want for Christmas?" Daniel asked.

Mary had thought for a moment. There wasn't all that much that she needed. The past few months that she had spent with Daniel had been perfect to her. It was like she had suddenly found the perfect guy for herself. "I don't know. Anything I guess."

Daniel looked to consider this as he nodded. "Anything at all?" he asked. "I could bring you a breadcrumb and you would be happy?"

Mary shrugged. "As long as you took the trouble to go out and get it for me."

"Well, out here you do have the rats that would fight you over food," he joked. "I think I have something better for you though."

"Yeah?" Mary asked. "Just don't go all out though. I wasn't able to spend that much. I'll feel bad if you spent much more than I did."

Daniel smiled. This was something that he had been waiting to do since she had arrived at the airport. This was now the perfect moment. "I don't know how you'll about this then." Mary's face some what dropped as she expressed her guilt. Daniel reached his hand into his pocket and then slowly got down on one knee as he took out the box.

Mary's eyes widened. Tears of surprise and happiness started to fill her eyes. This was not what she had been expecting. "Oh my God," she gasped in disbelief. She raised her hands to cover her mouth.

"Mary Richards," he started as he opened the box, revealing a diamond ring. "From the second that I saw you in the newsroom, I knew that I liked. From the conversation that we had on our first date, I realized that I didn't want to leave you. I have seen you at your best and I have seen you at your worst and to tell you the truth, there is no way that I could ever walk out on you during either one. When we are apart, all I do is think about everything we did together the last time I saw you while looking forward to the next time I will get to see you." He stopped and sighed as he prepared himself to ask the question. "Will you do me the honors of marrying me?"

It was hard for her to react at first. It seemed as if everything had happened so fast. One moment walking down the street talking about Christmas and the next getting proposed to. She gently wiped the tears that were about to fall and nodded. "Yes," she said and then sniffled. "I would like that."

Danielsmiled as he grabbed her hand and slid the ring onto her finger. "Thank you," he said and then stood up. Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her in for a kiss.

Rhoda and Brenda walked around the corner, but stopped as soon as they saw the two kissing. Rhoda had known that he was going to propose and smiled as she saw that Mary had said yes. Mary finally noticed them standing there as she pulled away from Daniel. "Hey," she said.

Rhoda laughed. "I guess this means you're gonna be Mrs. Custiuz?" 

Mary nodded and then went over and hugged both Rhoda and Brenda as they congratulated her. "You realize that I have to be the maid of honor now right?" Rhoda asked.

"Of course," Mary said as she pulled back. "But if Joe ever gets around to popping the question," Mary said.

"Hey," Brenda cut in. "I am her sister ya know."

"I know that, I was going to say brides maid."

Rhoda sighed. "Don't worry. If he does you'll both be in the wedding."

Daniel looked over. "You know, before we plan anything for the wedding, there is a small celebrational dinner that I might like to take Mary to."

Mary looked back to him and smiled. "That sounds about right."

"We'll let you two kids go. Have fun tonight, and conrats!" Rhoda then lead Brenda down the street as Mary and Daniel went the other way.

**The End**


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